my favorable dear squire and patron.
God's grace through Jesus Christ, our only Savior and Redeemer! Strict, honorable and honorable, favorable dear nobleman! How our Lord God, in the days of Joseph, the great, holy and excellent patriarch, when he was sold into Egypt, gave the Egyptian king, his princes, rulers and officials, together with many subjects in the same kingdom, a listening ear, as Solomon calls it Prov. 20:12. that they allowed themselves to be taught and reported to by Joseph (who came to them in Egypt by God's special sending) in the doctrine of the right knowledge of God, and were thus converted: thus the dear, gracious God has also shown such unspeakable grace in Germany in this last time, within several and thirty years, that He has not only given a seeing eye, that is, the holy man D. Martin Luther, of holy memory, as an excellent, spiritual teacher, through whom the old leaven of false, perverse human teachings, which had torn down and taken over by force everywhere in the papacy, has been swept out and the church has been properly reformed; but has also given listening ears, who have heard, considered and accepted the teachings of this excellent prophet; not only those who are common subjects in countries and cities, but also several great notable rulers, as sovereigns and princes, especially of the noble house of Saxony, as well as counts and counts of the Holy Roman Empire.
And many honorable men, and also notable of the nobility, besides also some honorable cities, all of which have so shown themselves and let themselves be heard, that they belong to the number of those, of whom Isaiah says in the 49th chapter, v. 23: "And the kings shall be thy keepers, and their princesses thy nurses." For although the devil (as has been his way from the beginning) has raged and raged exceedingly through his members, the other great multitude, and has tempted almost on all sides, how he has again put out this light of pure doctrine, revealed to us by the said D. Luther; nevertheless, God has given His small flock and the true Church, if He allows Himself to be gathered by the pure teaching of His Word, these nurses who have taken this seriously: and even now, after they have first opened their gates wide and made them wide, so that the King of honor, as the 24th Psalm v. 7. says, has moved in with them, how they now also can and may promote, handle and help spread the Christian teaching of this King. With such caretakers and nurses, I say, our Lord God wants to provide His church at all times by grace, and thus increase and maintain it, even if the devil and his scales should tear themselves apart over it. Among such faithful caretakers and church fathers, it is fair to include your honorary feasts and your like, several other honorary lovers of the nobility. For what you have done from the beginning, so that this pure
He knows well from whom nothing is hidden, who will also reward it abundantly according to his promise. And because I have recognized the honest and Christian mind of your honorable friends, that you have not sought any special fame in the eyes of the world by doing great help and taxes for many poor church servants and students, so that the church and school service may continue to flourish, in view of the fact that the devil tempts the wicked and ungrateful world to make it run freely, that the devil tempts the wicked and ungrateful world to let the school and church servants starve, so that pure doctrine and right worship may fall away and all kinds of idolatry and false worship may be established (for which the world likes to give its money); as also happened among the people of Israel, as one may read in the book of Nehemiah Cap. 13, v. 4. I do not want to say anything about it now; Christ, our dear Lord, who says Match. 10, v. 42: "Even a drink of cold water given to the least of His servants in His name shall not go unrewarded; He will publicly proclaim on the day of His appearing such rich benefits as Your Honorable Excellence freely shows to me and to other servants of the Word, and judging it to have happened to Himself, He will not leave it unrewarded.
But so that I may nevertheless show myself a little grateful, I want to thank Your Honorable Excellence for this work of mine, which I, through your manifold encouragement, with the bestowal of divine grace, have now, within a year, turned to the end that this rich treasure, which the dear man D. Luther, the last prophet of the Germans, has written in this Commentary on the
I would like to have dedicated the first book of Moses, which I left behind, to be brought from Latin into German, and let it go out under your name and others of the nobility, because it pleased our dear teacher, Mr. Philippus, in such a way that it should be produced by printing. For if it were without the same man's permission, I would not have liked that I should have put this work of mine into print. But what an excellent treasure this is, those who will read this interpretation with diligence will find out for sure. In sum, one finds in it the right core of the teaching that our Lord God has revealed to us through D. Luther. Luther; as the Lord Philip, D. Jonas, and other spiritual men have rightly judged. That your honorable friends and others of the nobility have promoted this work so diligently and faithfully, out of Christian zeal, and have expended no small amount of money on it, will undoubtedly be to the honor of our Lord God and to the betterment of His dear Church. May the dear gracious God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, enlighten all of our hearts through the Holy Spirit, so that we may understand this teaching, which He has given us out of great grace in these last lines through the much-thought-of great man D. Martin Luther, of holy memory, and thus redeemed us from the great darkness and abomination of the pope, that we may earnestly accept this teaching, thereby be improved in many ways, and persevere and remain steadfast in it to our end, so that we may finally be raised to eternal blessedness through Christ, the one Mediator and Savior, to whom alone this teaching points us.
Date Brunswick, on the day of Christ's appearing, in the year after Christ our Lord's birth 1557.
Your honor festivals